N.J. Supreme Court orders Keegan Landfill to temporarily close

The state Supreme Court has ordered the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority to temporarily close the Keegan Landfill in Kearny — a stunning turn in the legal battle over the 110-acre facility.

A one-page order signed Wednesday reinstates a trial court judge’s initial ruling requiring the Bergen Avenue landfill to close until July 25. It is the latest victory for Kearny Mayor Al Santos and the town in an ongoing legal dispute with the NJSEA, which owns and operates the facility.

“We’re elated. This was the best outcome we could have hoped for," Santos said Wednesday evening. “My thinking was if the Supreme Court justices looked at our papers carefully we would get our closure."

A spokesman for the NJSEA did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment on the ruling.

The town filed a lawsuit against the state agency in April seeking the shutdown of the landfill, which has been emitting smelly hydrogen sulfide gas for the last year, leaving town some residents sick and angry.

Hudson County Superior Court Judge Jeffery Jablonski ruled in Kearny’s favor last month, issuing a temporary injunction against the NJSEA ordering the landfill to remain closed until a plenary hearing in late July.

But the NJSEA appealed Jablonksi’s ruling and won at the appellate level when a pair of judges said shuttering the facility would not have any effect on the hydrogen sulfide gas coming from the landfill. That led Kearny to file an emergent appeal with the state’s highest court.

“The Appellate Division said what the sports authority does today will not create any hydrogen sulfide emissions today," Santos said. "But what the sports authority did a year ago created emissions today and what the sports authority is doing today will create emissions a year from now.”

Jeff Tittel, the executive director of the New Jersey Sierra Club, hailed the Supreme Court ruling as "a victory for the people of Kearny who have been living in a toxic nightmare for the past year. "

While Supreme Court order requires the landfill to remain closed until the July 25 hearing before Jablonski, it states, if possible, “the trial court should expedite" the hearing.

Kearny residents have complained about the rotten egg-like odors coming from the landfill since May 2018, prompting the Hudson Regional Health Commission and the state Department of Environmental Protection to conduct inspections at the site.

During inspections on March 1 and March 20, hydrogen sulfide levels of 30 parts per billion were recorded at the landfill for a 30-minute average — a threshold that experts say can pose health risks.

Later that month, the NJSEA entered into an official agreement with the DEP requiring the Lyndhurst-based agency to submit monthly reports to the state and install an air monitoring system at the site.

The DEP sent a notice to the NJSEA last week notifying it that hydrogen sulfide levels exceeding 30 parts per billion were again recorded at the facility — this time on seven dates in May and June.

A spokesman for the NJSEA said the agency’s engineering consultant has designed a gas collection system to keep the noxious fumes from wafting into the surrounding neighborhoods, and submitted construction applications to the DEP.

Hydrogen sulfide can cause irritation to the eyes, nose, throat and lungs; lead to nausea, headache, and dizziness; and cause shortness of breath.

In addition to a complete shutdown of the facility, the town’s lawsuit seeks access and oversight of the landfill, including “all correspondence, including emails, between the DEP and NJSEA."

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